twitterpat asked:

Just a thought I had when seeing your building culture posts

I feel like Jalebi is such an air nomad style food. With the bright orange and swirled patterns, you can't tell me Aang wouldn't love it.

Additionally barfi feels like another air nomad dish. Perhaps it could be made with bison milk?

I know the air nomads are inspired by Tibetan monks, but as theres sprinkles of Hinduism and Indian culture in the show. So this is my thoughts as an Indian person

atlaculture:

I agree, I think these foods would work well for the Air Nomads. In fact, barfi and other Indian dairy desserts have been happily embraced by the Tibetan communities in India. Truthfully, the reason I limited my Air Nomad cuisine posts to mostly Tibetan food was to narrow the scope of my research. Really, any vegetarian dish from any culture could integrate well into the Air Nomad culture established by the show’s canon.

The way I see it, there would realistically be two types of Air Nomad cuisine:

“Temple” Air Nomad Cuisine: This would be the cuisine that the Air Nomads developed within their temples, high up in the mountains. Like the Himalayas, this climate is good for growing barley, root vegetables (droma, potatoes, daikon, etc.), mushrooms, and certain strains of peppers. These would be the ingredients, along with sky bison dairy, that young Air Nomads would grow up enjoying.

“Local” Air Nomad Cuisine: My conception of the Air Nomads is that they were mostly sky bison herders with strong spiritual beliefs and ascetic practices. Their culture was viewed as quite mysterious by the other nations, but the average person (before Sozin’s reign) regarded an Air Nomad’s presence as bringing good luck to those around them. This was due to the commonly held belief that the Air Nomads were on good terms with the spirits, which was generally true— Yangchen notwithstanding.

I establish all this worldbuilding to give context to the once flourishing vegetarian cuisines of the Avatar world. When an Air Nomad would stop by a town to purchase or trade for supplies, many villagers would rush to invite the monk over to their home for a meal— some hoping for a blessing, others desiring spiritual guidance, and a clever few knowing that a well-traveled nomad is the best source for world news.

Although Air Nomads would humbly accept whatever food was offered to them, most villagers would go out of their way to prepare vegetarian dishes out of respect and hospitality. Thus, prior to the Hundred Year War, all nations had a thriving vegetarian culinary tradition that utilized their local ingredients. This came to be known colloquially as “local” Air Nomad food. Sometimes these dishes would become so popular with the nomads that temple elders would bemoan their people becoming too attached to these earthly pleasures.

I think both the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom would have Indian-inspired vegetarian dishes that they would serve to an Air Nomad guest. The Water Tribe’s vegetarian dishes were especially unique and labor-intensive, considered a special treat for any one of any nation. @mostly-mundane-atla has a great post on what WT vegetarian dishes would look like.

Just another Air Nomad headcanon that lives in rent-free in my brain. ^_^

Anonymous asked:

someone else has probably asked you this already (i think you were tagged in one of their posts) but that black sleeveless shirt with the gold trim zuko wears in b1 (i think it was in the waterbending scroll episode) is there an office name for that top or would it just be called a sleeveless tunic?

It’s a sleeveless tangzhuang (唐装)! Sokka also wears one in Book 3:

https://www.tumblr.com/atlaculture/635797186687500289/cultural-fashion-sokkas-fire-nation-shirt?source=share

atlaculture:

Favorite Foods: Toph

This is the toughest food post I’ve done yet.

Before Toph began sneaking out of her parents’ home, I don’t think she enjoyed eating very much. Meals in the Beifong household were a stuffy affair, dictated by innumerable rules of etiquette that Toph found tedious and exhausting. However, I do think she liked having teatime and snacks with her mom, who wasn’t as insistent on policing her daughter’s manners as Lao was. Other than that, I think most of Toph’s positive food memories come from sampling street food in the area around the Earth Rumble arena. Each dish is linked to a recipe, by the way.

1. Ròu jiā mó (肉夹馍) literally meaning “meat wedged between bread”, is basically a Tang Dynasty hamburger. It’s composed of chopped, seasoned meat sandwiched between two slices of flatbread called bái jí mó (白吉馍). The servants in Toph’s home would make these burgers for themselves from the leftover bread and cuts of meat that the Beifongs didn’t eat. Being cheap and greasy commoner’s food, Lao (Toph’s father) didn’t allow her to have it. Of course, it didn’t stop her from having a servant sneak one to her. After joining up with the Gaang, she makes a habit of always buying one whenever she smells a stall selling them.
2. Tang guozi (唐果子) are no-bake cakes meant to be served with tea. They’re typically made of bean paste and shaped to resemble flowers and fruits. Poppy and Toph would make these cakes together as a bonding activity. Poppy would would prepare the bean paste and then hand it off to Toph to mold into whatever she pleased… They weren’t always cutest creations. Still, from sculpting to eating, the two were always able to enjoy every step of the process.
3. Poached fruits and boiled nuts were another popular tea snack during the Tang Dynasty. Aside from bringing back warm tea-time memories, Toph also appreciates how simple they are to prepare. It’s one of the few dishes Toph can make on her own. Her favorite combination is boiled chestnuts and pears poached with brown sugar.
4. Gu louzi (古楼子) was a decadent meat pastry popular among the wealthy, particularly high-ranking military officials, during the Tang Dynasty. Gu louzi was made up of rich layers of lamb meat, cheese, and flatbread. The meat was typically served very rare, both for for its tenderness and to add moisture to the dry flatbread layers. Toph’s father would often serve this dish when entertaining generals and other military elites. However, he refused to allow Toph to eat it, believing the heavy ingredients and under cooked meat would upset his “delicate” daughter’s stomach. Naturally, Toph would always blow her Earth Rumble prize money on gu louzi every chance she got.
5. & 6. Youtiao (油条) and tanghulu (糖葫蘆). Youtiao are Chinese crullers and tanghulu are candied fruits served on sticks. Both these foods were commonly sold at the Earth Rumble arena and quickly became Toph’s go-to snacks after a match. Since Toph’s household primarily served Tang Dynasty cuisine, the Song Dynasty snacks of youtiao and tanghulu were quite new and exciting to young Toph.

Fun fact: If you want an idea of what Tang Dynasty food tasted like, I would recommend finding a Chinese restaurant that serves Xi'an cuisine. Xi'an was the capital of the Tang Dynasty, when it was known as Chang'an.

Like what I’m doing? Tips always appreciated, never expected. ^_^

https://ko-fi.com/atlaculture

aureshadow asked:

I’m wondering where do you get all this info from?? You must do an insane amount of research. Especially with like, clothing influences - do you just google “dress that looks vaguely like this” and see what pops up? Haha

atlaculture:

Aww, thank you! Funnily enough, the clothing posts are actually the easiest for me because the pictures do most of the work of explaining why something is cool or interesting. Less typing for me, haha.

The amount of research I do really varies; it could be anywhere from a quick skim of a Wikipedia article to face in hands while mumbling “This is insane. Why am I doing this? I’m insane.”

Generally speaking, anything Chinese, Japanese, or Korean is pretty easy to research. All three countries have really strong global presences and thriving tourism industries, so you can find a lot of English-language websites describing their traditional clothing and customs. The tumblr users nannaia, ziseviolet, and guzhuangheaven are great resources for learning about traditional Chinese clothing and culture. Wikipedia is actually really thorough about documenting Japanese and Korean culture; probably because Korean dramas and anime are both wildly popular in the West. Tanuki-Kimono is also a great resource for traditional Japanese fashion and arts.

Southeast Asia is a lot harder to research. Mostly, I can spot SE Asian things in Avatar because I grew up around SE Asian culture. But finding proper terminology for it on the internet is still pretty difficult, so I mostly just rely on pictures from cultural festivals and performances and clothing catalogs to get across my observations. Nannaia is also a pretty great resource for Vietnamese clothing, specifically.

Tibetan and other Himalayan cultures are about on the same level of research difficulty as Southeast Asia. Nonetheless, I still really enjoy researching them because Tibetan clothing is so colorful and intricate, and their lifestyles are very distinct from East and Southeast Asia. At the same time, when I come across certain practices of their’s that I can relate to, it makes me realize, “Oh, I guess that must be a Buddhist thing.” Himalayan Art is a great resource for identifying Tibetan art and clothing. Mongolian culture is also similarly interesting to me, combined with them having some of my favorite folk music.

Asian-Folk-Wardrobe is an overall fantastic archive of various traditional Asian dress.

Finally, looking into Indigenous anything definitely falls under “insane amounts of research”. I try to be very, very careful when researching indigenous cultures because it’s so outside of my cultural wheelhouse. Mostly I try to stick to information from museum websites, online textbooks, various translation dictionaries, and academic journals. Mostly-Mundane-ATLA is of Inupiat descent and is very knowledgeable about Alaska’s arctic cultures.

The biggest hurdle I face when researching Indigenous cultures is there is such a strong financial incentive for people to outright lie. There are countless websites out there that claim to sell “Authentic Native Weapons/Jewelry/Clothing” and will literally just makeup a “cultural” backstory for whatever they’re trying to sell. You can usually distinguish these websites by their tendency to namedrop only the most well-known Native peoples and treat those people groups like they’re a monolith, such as Navajo or Cherokee. They’re the online equivalent to the traveling snake oil salesmen.

Like what I’m doing? Tips always appreciated, never expected. ^_^

https://ko-fi.com/atlaculture

atlaculture:

Cultural Cuisine: Seaweed Noodles

In LoK’s fifth episode, Bolin takes Korra to a Southern Water Tribe restaurant called Narook’s Seaweed Noodlery. Judging by how thick and green the noodles are, they most closely resemble wakame udon noodles. Wakame, also known as “sea mustard”, is a type of edible seaweed (kelp) native to Northeast Asia and udon is a chewy Japanese noodle made from wheat flour. Wakame udon noodles are made by kneading wakame paste into udon dough. The result is a vivid green noodle with a mild and savory flavor. This style of noodles is a specialty of Japan’s Awaji Island, although you can also buy dried sea mustard noodles from Korea.

Since seaweed is a popular ingredient in both East Asian and Inuit cuisine, it makes sense to feature it in a Water Tribe dish. Since Kyoshi Island is inspired by Japan, my head canon is that the dish was introduced to the SWT by Suki. Since nations were able to more easily trade after the war, wheat flour became common enough for Southern Water Tribers to start putting their own spin on the dish, such as using species of kelp native to the Arctic. I’d like to think that seaweed noodles came to represent the SWT’s post-war culture and prosperity.

As for the broth and toppings, perhaps five-flavor soup with some stewed sea prunes?

erisenyo:

wileycap:

Most officers: Fire Lord Zuko is great!

Ozai loyalists: Zuko? More like. Sucko. Go Ozai

Admiral Chan: That motherfucker invited himself to my son’s party, broke my mother’s vase because he was jealous, was told to leave, left, and then came back to burn down my vacation home.

Zuko: i keep telling you it was a rough period in my life

OP youre hiding gold in those tags

ALT

Accurate.

(via loopy777)

firecat17 asked:

Katara basically wears drawers consisting of wrappings as lower body under clothing. Did any cultures in real life ever do this?

I have a whole post about it here:

Yes, Katara (and Sokka)’s undergarments come from Japanese culture. These cloth wraps are known as sarashi (晒し) and the loin cloth undies are specifically called fundoshi (褌).

help-i-need-a-cool-username asked:

Does Toph's hairstyle have a name or inspiration?

Cultural Fashion: Toph’s Hairstyle – @atlaculture on Tumblr

It’s called gao ji (高髻), meaning “the high hairstyle”, which refers to any hairstyle that emphasizes piling your hair into a full and tall arrangement.